April 6: He Visits My Town Once a Year
Martha
He Visits My Town Once a Year
Amir Khusrau
He only visits once a year,
I splurge big on him when he's here,
His kisses make my tastebuds tango.
Who, bitch, your man?
Nah, bitch, a mango.
translated by Cherepashka
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Amir Khusrow/Khusrau was a 13th century Persian poet. See an alternate/more traditional translation here, plus notes from this translator on their word choices and on the genre of keh mukarni 'say/deny' riddle poems.
Try not to drip mango juice on the poems sent on this date in:2025: At Last the New Arriving, Gabrielle Calvocoressi
2024: First Birthday, Brad Leithauser
2023: Toad, Norman MacCaig
2022: Antidotes to Fear of Death, Rebecca Elson
2021: Love Poem: Centaur, Donika Kelly
2020: Walking Home, Marie Howe
2019: not an elegy for Mike Brown, Danez Smith
2018: Trillium, Deborah Digges
2017: Good People, W.S. Merwin
2016: Traveling with Guitar, Debra Marquart
2015: Honey, James Wright
2014: For the Dead, Adrienne Rich
2013: Miracle Ice Cream, Adrienne Rich
2012: The Soul Bone, Susan Wood
2011: Pluto, Maggie Dietz
2010: Slant, Stephen Dunn
2009: Distressed Haiku, Donald Hall
2008: Question, May Swenson
2007: Song, Adrienne Rich
2006: Scheherazade, Richard Siken
2005: What the Living Do, Marie Howe